Masquerade
by gctokidoki
Summary: HarryxDraco slash ! Harry gets a bit protective over Draco... CHAPTER 1 & 2 REVISED! CHAPTER 3 FINALLY UP!
1. Chapter 1

Title: Masquerade

Fandom: Harry Potter

Pairing: HarryxDraco

Rating: PG (higher rating in later Chapters)

Author's note: My first HP slash fic. I just finished HBP and thought the HarryxDraco moments were just the sex. /freaky slash fangirlyrant

WARNING: May contain spoilers for _Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince_

Disclaimer: Don't own them, chracters belong to J to the K Rowling. Yo yo .

--

**Masquerade**

"What are you up to again, Harry?" Hermione asks suspiciously.

"Just wanna check out what Malfoy's doing up there in the Room of Requirements," Harry answers while he slips on his invisibility cloak. Hermione let out a defeated sigh.

"But don't forget Slughorn's memory," she says before she and Ron leave for Hogsmeade for another Apparition lesson.

Harry nods to himself and hurries up the stairs until he reaches the 7th floor. He slows down and tries to make no noise when he turns around the last corner and sees the young girl which must be Goyle. 'So, Malfoy must be in there, since Goyle is guarding the corridor. Sneaking that Polyjuice Potion to transform Goyle into a girl was pretty clever. ' Harry approaches the young girl, still under his Invisibility cloak, and whispers into her ear

"What a sweet little girl you are." Goyle let out a squeal while the brass scale he was holding drops to the floor and shatters to pieces. He runs as fast as he can and is soon out of sight. Harry smirks when he halts in front of the blank wall behind which he imagines Malfoy cowering in a corner after hearing Goyle shatter the scale.

After some attempts and a whole variety of the sentence 'what the hell is Malfoy up to in there' Harry opens is eyes again, but there is still no door. He sighs and slumps down at the wall. "Think Potter, think," Harry hisses trough clenched teeth rubbing his temples hard.

After a while he gets up again, trying once more to get into the hidden room. He mumbles another sentence and after three walks past he opens his eyes to find himself in a small room without any windows and just one small gas-lamp lit. He is still invisible when he suddenly hears a sobbing noise.

In the right corner on the other side of the room stands Draco Malfoy. He looks paler than usual and his shirt is unbuttoned to the half. Harry doesn't move and listens to Malfoy's quiet whining. "He's gonna kill me. I'm gonna die, I know it. No one can safe me…" He slumps to the floor sobbing, his hands covering his face. Harry feels his stomach clench by the sight of the usually proud Slytherin and for the first time since he met Malfoy he feels even the slightest bit of pity for him.

He wants to comfort the boy and before he knew what he was doing the Invisibility Cloak slips off his shoulders and onto the floor. He approaches the blonde boy slowly not to scare him. When Draco suddenly looks up his eyes widen and he jumps to his feet, trying to brush the tears out of his face. He taps his pocket in search for his wand. "Damn," he hisses under his breath. He must have forgotten it. Harry stops dead in his tracks and looks at Malfoy.

"What the hell are you doing here?" the blonde boy screams hysterically. "And how did you get in here anyway?"

Harry contemplates what to say, but since Malfoy has nothing to harm him he answers,

"I wanted to know what you're up to."

Draco furrows his brows, still shocked that out of all people Harry Potter found his hidden place.

"What do you mean, 'What you're up to'? Were you spying on me!?"

"I saw you talking to Snape the night Slughorn had his Christmas party…. just by accident of course, I didn't follow you or anything…" Harry hits himself in his mind. 'Great Potter, try acting even more obvious.' An uncomfortable silence settles between them. Harry never saw Malfoy in such a state. After all, they are enemies, he can't just ask Malfoy what he was crying about. While Harry's mind was racing Draco broke the silence.

"So, now you saw me, Potter, crying like a baby. I'm in your hands. What do you want for keeping this to yourself?" Harry thought about hundreds of possibilities how he could torture Malfoy, but before he knew what he was saying he opened his mouth

"I wanna know the reason why you were crying."

"What?" Harry thinks and Draco asks beyond belief at the same time. Harry blinks a few times, avoiding Draco's eyes.

"That's all you come to think of, Potter? This is your chance."

"Well, it's just, you never seemed like a person who cries. More like an arrogant, cold-hearted prick." Harry expected the blonde boy to complain, but all he did was smirking sadly. Harry went on

"Besides that, I still don't know what this is all about. You and this room.. and stuff…" Harry trails off while Draco sits down again, his back on the wall mentioning Harry to take a seat next to him. Harry looks at Malfoy suspiciously, before he moves and sits down.

"Ask right away, Potter, I'm in a good mood today, you should take advantage of it." Harry sneers about that paradox and thinks about what he could say. Then he remembers the argument between Malfoy and Snape.

"What is that Unbreakable Vow? And why did Snape give it to your mother?" Draco inhales sharply before he answers, the surprise about how much Harry seems to know visible in his light grey eyes. The boy answers, trying to conceal as much as possible about his duty.

"There's something I have to do and Snape promised my mother to help me do it. He gave her the Unbreakable Vow, which means if he fails in fulfilling that vow he's gonna die." Harry gasps slightly. 'Snape would never risk his life for a student. Not even Malfoy'. Harry thinks for a second while Malfoy waits for him to speak up, wanting this to be over quickly.

"What is it that you have to do? What does Snape have to help you with?"

Draco's eyes narrow.

"I can't tell you. I would be dead by tomorrow if I told you."

He draws his legs up to his chest, his chin resting on his knees. At this moment the Slytherin looks like a young boy who just lost his beloved puppy but at the same time his face appears older than it did ever before.

"You know, Potter, I really envy you," Draco continues and Harry glances at the other boy in disbelief.

"Yeah, sure." Harry mutters, but Draco ignores the boy's remark and goes on.

"You refused to be my friend in our first year, remember? I was angry at you, and when your popularity increased I became even more angry." Harry raises his eyebrows. During all this time the two boys knew each other they never shared more than sneered comments and a whole variety of insults. Why is Malfoy talking to him with such honesty now?

"Well you always insulted my friends and said you dispised us. Especially me." Harry replies. Draco merely sneers and suddenly Harry sees, in the faint light of the lamp, tears dripping down the Slytherin's face. To his surprise Harry feels bad to make the blonde boy cry again, so he tries to comfort him as good as he can.

"If you would have tried not to be all stuck-up and insulting it would be easier for people to get to know you…" Draco's head jerks up.

"Nobody wants to know me. No one ever tried, since I was a child. You don't know what it means to be Lucius Malfoy's son." His voice is filled with bitterness and he pronounces the name of his father in mocking tone.

"Lucius Malfoy, the Death Eater, and his son who will take his place soon." Draco tried to suppress the sobbing, but Harry noticed it nevertheless, shifting uncomfortably.

"Since I was a child he teached me to praise You-Know-Who and to despise everyone who was against him. I did what he told me, I mean, I was just a child and he was my father, I believed him. I wanted him to be proud of me. I just wanted him to…to…"

Draco trails off burying his face in his hands. Harry doesn't know what to do.

'At least do SOMETHING' he tells himself. Finally he overcomes any sense of discomfort and moves his hand to Draco's forearm, touching it ever so lightly.

The boy stirs at the feeling of Harry's hand on his arm and looks up to meet Harry's eyes, his own eyes red and his cheeks damp. Harry feels a weird sensation in his stomach, but tries to suppress it. After some moments, during which Draco must have had an inner monologue about what to do, he brushes off Harry's hand roughly, looking aggressive.

"I don't need your pity, Potter, thank you." Harry gets angry and furrows his brows. A rage builts up inside of him and the words come out of his mouth before he could stop himself.

"Why can't you just appreciate it when people care about you!?"

With that he gets up opens the door and gets out of the Room of Requirements, leaving a confused Draco behind.


	2. Chapter 2

**Part2**

Harry told neither Ron nor Hermione about his encounter with Malfoy. He was still furious with himself.

'Why did I have to act like a damn Drama-Queen?'

The following week he caught himself staring at the blonde boy constantly. At dinner in the Great Hall or in classes, in Potions for example when he had finished his potion first – thanks to the Half-blood Prince.

On a Thursday evening he went to the Quidditch field, while the Slytherins had training, pretending to check some things for Gryffindor practice on Friday, carrying a notebook and a quill with him to appear more convincing.

In reality he watched Malfoy, soaring through the air and shouting orders at the other members. Although none of the others might have noticed, or nobody actually cared, to Harry, Draco appeared thinner than usual, and his grip to the broom seemed weak.

When Malfoy suddenly stopped in midair, around seven feet from the ground, Harry frowned. Something was odd about this sight and Harry began to sprint onto the field.

Draco's expression was blank when he slipped off his Nimbus 2001 and fell to the ground. Harry breathed 'No' while running to the spot where Malfoy would hit the ground pulling out his wand on the way. He screamed _breacimus _and a violet flash hit Malfoy whose fall was stopped about one foot from the ground. When Harry reached the blonde boy he pulled him onto the grass shouting

"Get Madam Pomfrey," at one of the Slytherins who were now pooling around him and Draco gazing down in shock at what just happened.

Draco was taken to the hospital wing and Harry, to the astonishment of the other students, followed Madam Pomfrey with an anxious expression.

--

"Will he be alright? " Harry asked nervously, fiddling with the hem of his shirt looking down at Malfoy who was lying in one of the hospital beds. Madam Pomfrey smiled kindly at him.

"It's nothing serious. Just a breakdown. I guess your friend didn't get much sleep these days." She looked warmly at Harry. "May I ask since when you and Draco get along so well?"

Harry blushed, but before he could answer the big wooden door to the hospital wing swung open and Snape walked in.

His black, cold eyes narrowed when he spotted Harry, before Madam Pomfrey greeted him.

"What is he doing here?" Snape sneered.

"Professor Snape, Harry just rescued one of the students of your house, I think he has every right to be here."

Madam Pomfrey held Snape's gaze for a while, before he, with a last glare in Harry's direction, left the room again.

"Potter," Harry heard a faint whisper and turned his head to see Draco look at him.

"It's you again."

The Slytherin smirks, looking exhausted. Harry only now realised that he was holding Malfoy's hand all the time. He let go of the cold hand and laid his hands in his lap, concentrating to look at them instead of the blonde boy eyeing him suspiciously.

"How do you feel? " Harry asked nonchalantly, ignoring what Draco had just said and at the same time trying to hide the concern in his voice. He slowly turned his head to finally look at the Slytherin.

"Great," Draco answered not breaking eye contact with Harry. The dark haired boy felt the heat rising into his cheek and again this weird but nice feeling tried to creep into his chest.

"Good," Harry answered. He noddded slightly, got up and hurried to leave the room as fast as possible not seeing the Slytherin's smirk grow even larger.


	3. Chapter 3

**Part3**

It is Saturday and all sixth-years who are already of age are taking their Apparition test in Hogsmeade, including Hermione and Ron. Without his friends, Harry walks down a corridor on the second floor of Hogwarts. The last weeks he could hardly keep his mind off Draco and his business with Snape. Although he rarely saw the Slytherin boy and it seemed as though he avoided Harry on purpose.

Harry checks the Marauder's Map, to his surprise, feeling more concerned about Malfoy since what happened at the Quidditch field than he had ever done before. It must be something big, the way he gets thinner and thinner every day, the way he looks as if all burdens of the world lie upon his shoulders.

'Am I actually worried about _Malfoy_?' he asks himself in astonishment. 'I can't get my mind from thinking about his conversation with Snape. How do I get him to tell me what his 'little secret mission' is?

- Tell you!? What do you expect? He's been your archenemy since your first year at Hogwarts, why should he tell you of all people? -

- But first his encounter with Snape, the look on his face, the fear in his voice and then that time I caught him in the Room of Requirements… I just can't stop thinking about it. He seemed so totally out of character. Weak, fragile, almost hopeless...'

He stops arguing with the voice in his head, to concentrate on the map again. He finds the little black dot labelled Draco Malfoy in a bathroom on the sixth floor.

'I didn't even know there was a bathroom there. Hogwart's still full of mysteries.'

He frowns and goes up to the sixth floor, his thoughts trailing around the same topic all the time. When he finally reaches the bathroom, having some difficulty to avoid being caught by Filch, he hears muffled voices. He presses his ear against the door and recognizes Malfoy's voice.

'Who is he talking to? There was just one dot on the Marauder's Map when I checked.'

He takes the map out of his pocket, unfolds it and taps it with his wand, whispering 'I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good'. The hundreds of rooms and corridors of Hogwarts appear, showing the different labelled dots of students and teachers alike. Harry spots the dot labelled Draco Malfoy, but can't see anyone besides himself near the bathroom.

He taps the map again, saying 'Mischief managed' as quiet as possible and shoves it back into his pockets before he carefully pushes the door open to see Draco, his back turned to the door.

Harry notices that the Slytherin's whole body is shaking. He is whispering to himself, brushing his hands through his platin blonde hair as to calm himself, when Harry creeps through the door behind him. Draco doesn't notice him until he lifts his face to look into the mirror. He immediately swirls around, pulls his wand out and points at Harry.

"You again?" he asks enraged, this time not trying to hide his tears. To Harry's surprise, Draco's arm falls down again and he stuffs his wand back into his pocket, before he walks further into the bathroom.

"How do you always find me?" he asks his back to Harry.

"Coincidence?" Harry offers nervously, following Malfoy. The blonde boy sits down at the wall, massaging his temples. Harry stands uncomfortably in front of him, until he finally sits down next to the Slytherin.

Harry looks at Draco intently from the corner of his eye. That burning sensation in his stomach, which he only knows from experiences with Cho Chang, arouses again and heat creeps into his cheeks when he realizes his staring. He looks away hastily.

"What's the matter with you, Potter?" Draco breaks the silence, looking at Harry.

"What?" Is the only thing Harry manages to say, his mind still wandering around the feeling in his stomach and what it might mean at a time like this.

"Getting kinda protective, aren't we?" He says with a smirk, eyeing Harry. "No matter where I go or what I do, I always see you, staring and observing."

Before Harry gets a chance to protest Draco continues.

"You know, I always thought you were a nice guy. We'd get along pretty well I guess. That is, when I would not act like a bitchy prat all the time."

Harry smirks too now, imagining what would be if he and Malfoy had become friends in their first year.

The blonde boy sighs and runs his right hand through his hair again, before it rests on his neck and he massages the tense muscles there.

Harry's thoughts about what it would be like if the two boys had become friends in the beginning trail off when he realizes Draco staring at him, now grinning smugly. Harry shifts, feeling uncomfortable, while the Slytherin's greyish eyes bore into him. Harry blushes slightly and tries to look away, being afraid Malfoy might see it and see even deeper inside of him, see the feeling burning inside his stomach.

The blonde boy leans forward, so that Harry can feel his breath on his face, which by now must be a fiery red. He swallows hard when Draco opens his mouth and speaks, his voice low and husky, sending shivers down Harry's spine which he can't explain.

"Since last year I noticed it. The staring. In Potions. At first I thought you were trying to curse me just by looking, but it was not hate I saw in your eyes. This wasn't the look you gave me all the years before."

Harry tries to move, to concentrate on something else and to suppress the roaring feeling rising up inside of him. But he just can't, all he sees is Draco, his piercing eyes, his ivory like skin… Then Draco's voice again.

"When you looked at me, there was something inside your eyes. Something that's much different from hate. Am I right, Harry?"

Harry's heart skips a beat at the sound of his first name coming from the Slytherin's mouth. Never before had Malfoy called him that. And never before did he hear the boy talk to him with such tenderness and affection.

He takes in the view in front of him, Malfoy's pale skin which looks almost illuminated by the candles lit all around the bathroom, his rosy cheeks and his wonderful, shiny now tousled, platinum-blonde hair. Some bangs hang into his greyish-blue eyes, still slightly red from crying.

He doesn't notice the grey tinge to Draco's skin or the dark shadows under his eyes resulting from, Harry assumes, many sleepless nights and exhausting days.

'He's beautiful' Harry thinks and hates himself for thinking it at the same moment.

'Gee, Potter, come to your senses. This is Draco Malfoy, the boy who tortured and made fun of you for six years now.'

But Harry doesn't listen to the voice inside his head, resembling Hermione's lecturing one so much. He ignores his conscience and follows the nice, warm, roaring feeling inside of him, which by now has reached his chest.

His inner monologue is interrupted by Draco speaking up again, by now so close to him that their lips are almost touching.

"Am I right?" the Slytherin repeats, his eyes searching Harry's face for any sign of emotion. Harry feels goosebumps rise on his neck. He opens his mouth to speak, but no words come out.

'Is he right? Was my obsession over the handsome boy nothing else but admiration? Was I just blinded by the name of Slytherin, by the prejudices coming along with this house which is so deeply connected to the Dark Arts? Now that I finally, during one conversation, found out more about Malfoy than in six years of knowing him? Why not just give in to the feeling I felt inside of me and which bothered me for so long?'

And finally he does. He ignores the voice, demanding him to stop and come to his senses. He opens his mouth and his voice is loud and clear.

"You are right, Draco." Four simple words, which will change the relationship between the two former archenemies forever. There's no turning back now. Harry wonders for a moment if this is just one of his dreams and in a second he wakes up in the dormitory to the snoring of Ron and Neville. But he doesn't wake up. This is real.

Draco's smile widens and Harry imitates him, before they close the little gap which was left between them and their lips finally meet.

Their actions are careful and testing, since both of them lack experience in kissing.

Draco slowly lifts his hand up to Harry's neck, feeling his thick, dark hair. Harry in return moves his hand to caress Draco's cheek, feeling the soft, silky skin for the first time in six years.

Draco shyly moves out his tongue to lick Harry's lips, who opens his own mouth to battle, a bit clumsily, with the Slytherin's tongue, before it moves further, trying to explore as much of the other boy's mouth as possible.

When they part after some time both boys are panting slightly, their cheeks equally rosy. They stay on the floor and look at each other without moving for some time, the smile never leaves either of their faces and at that moment Harry decides that Draco Malfoy smiling is one of the most beautiful sights he has ever seen.


End file.
